


A First Step

by kuiperking



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Family Dynamics, Hybrid!Technoblade, Piglin!Technoblade, Sleepy Bois Incorporated - Freeform, it's all platonic, sbi, sbi family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27905938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuiperking/pseuds/kuiperking
Summary: The King sends his most trusted team to pioneer the Nether. They stumble across a bastion and a dilemma. Phil steps up.Alternatively: Phil meets three gremlin children
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Darryl Noveschosch & Sapnap, Dave | Technoblade & TommyInnit, Dave | Technoblade & Wilbur Soot
Comments: 7
Kudos: 343





	A First Step

It starts like this: rocky skies that were borderline claustrophobic; colors that painted a whole universe in fire; fortresses and ruins that loom over oceans of lava; a home. Billions of years of adaptation and evolution has made a world so extreme into something astoundingly hospitable for so many species. They say life always finds a way. 

But that’s what they always say when creatures make the best out of a horrible situation. They never say that when the worst comes to fruition, but you should know that life finds a way to turn everything upside down in horrifying manners. And for the world so full of fire and hostility, it all went wrong the day a strange black stone portal appeared and settled on the tall red stone cliffs and figures dressed in armor, weapons in hand, stepped through from a world unknown. 

* * *

Phil is the last through the portal, his face set in uncertainty as he takes in how _strange_ it all is. Ahead of him, Phil sees the others in his party have already begun making their way down the cliff they find themselves stranded on. Dream scouts furthest ahead like the leader he was. Despite being one of the younger recruits (Sapnap being the youngest, Phil recalled) the soldier in the smiling mask had quickly climbed the ranks of the King’s Dogs. Phil never found himself envious of this though, he was content with the position he held and if that content stemmed from a desire to veer clear of ranks the Mad King holds close to his chest then that was for Phil to know. 

To Phil’s left, he sees Sapnap and George bickering over the best way to traverse the terrain. To the right, Bad is restraining his rambunctious charge from accidentally leaping over the edge as Skeppy skips about. Phil smiles, if they were worried about the uncertainty of this situation then they did a darn good job hiding it. 

Just like a good dog. 

“Hey!" Dream calls from far below the cliff, “I found a safe way down this way. You guys should still watch out though.” Their agile leader nimbly continues down until he reaches flat terrain and stares in awe as the others begin to join him. 

Skeppy is the first to speak. “What are they?”

Bipedal creatures lumber about their skin rotting and bones exposed, seemingly unaware of the scrutiny. 

“They’re like, humanoid pigs or something,” Sapnap says with a squint. “They look dumb as hell though. Do you think they’ll attack us? Are they contagious?"

“They’re carrying swords, Sapnap,” Dream says in a deadpan over Bad's indignant "Language!"

“What do you think?” The masked leader continues, unfazed as he turns towards the group, "What's the likelihood they're contagious?"

Sapnap shrugs but Phil knows the boy has tightened his grip on his sword. 

“Let’s just go around them,” Bad suggests, always one to seek a less violent answer. In honesty, Phil wasn’t sure how BadBoyHalo had made it into the troops of the Mad King. The boy just was there one day and from then on he was always there, never straying far from Skeppy's side.

Under Dream's direction, the party skirts around the attention of the "pigmen" as Skeppy had dubbed them. That is, until they come face to face with a pigman with a cross-bow aimed straight at them. Dream raises his shield and grunts as the arrow buries itself into the wood. The pigman grunts in dissatisfaction and reloads. 

Phil is the only one that sees the fear in its eyes as Dream kills it with one sweep of his sword. 

"This one is different from the others," Sapnap comments, "come look." 

Everyone gathers around and George leans in. "You're right, it's not all sick and shit."

Bad murmurs an obligatory "Language," but he's too enamored by this anomaly to mean it. He looks towards Dream and Phil standing side by side; the leader and the veteran. "Maybe the others are like, this world's version of zombies?"

It makes sense and it's not like anyone has a better idea. "I think you're onto something." Phil gives Bad a clap on the back. "We better be careful, they might have villages or something." 

Sapnap looks up. "Or maybe a fort," he murmurs, his eyes widening.

They had been so focused on the pigman’s corpse that they hadn't noticed the large structure nestled in the jagged cliffs that surround the team. 

“Woah,” Phil breathes. “We’ve gotta check it out.”

And so they do. They head march towards the unknown and discover a whole society. Guards patrol the balconies and bridges of the fort; piles of gold tease the innocent intruders further inside; armor and weapons hang just within reach for the taking; a home in a world of fire. But these intruders are on a mission. They are on an assignment, one might say; pioneers you may call them. A quest to ensure that the King stays ahead of everyone else. No matter the price; no matter the sacrifices; no matter whatever stands in their way. 

So we arrive at a dilemma: a fort piled with _so many_ dead pigmen and a dark stairway that leads into the depths of the fort. Unexplored and ominous as tell tale sounds of grunting emit from below. Our party cautiously makes their way down each step with Dream and Phil taking the lead and Sapnap taking up the rear, closer to the noises; closer to their dilemma. 

They arrive at a blocked entrance. Further beyond, Phil can hear the lonesome grunts of the creature--the monsters--he has mercilessly slaughtered cowering behind black stone. Another sound follows, but it's too muffled to understand. 

Dream nods at Sapnap: the go-ahead to knock down the wall. With a stick of tnt and a fire starter, nothing stood in the youngest member’s way. Nothing that could easily be solved with a bit of fire, at least. Phil was skeptical but he conceded to the brash attitude of Sapnap’s naivety. 

With the TNT in place and a swift strike of flint and steel, sparks flew and the explosive was ignited. Everyone raises their shields and braces for impact. 

* * *

It looks like this: as the dust settles and the King's Dogs lower their shields, their eyes are immediately drawn to the lone silhouette barely standing at four feet that stands protectively in front of two huddled figures. A weaponless soldier protecting human children: the dilemma.

With a tongue of lead, Phil manages to get out a single word:

"Dream." 

"I know." 

* * *

"We have to kill it." 

"Absolutely not."

"What do you propose we do then? I don't see you with any brighter ideas!" 

"We take the humans off of it and let it go?"

"And just let it go off knowing we slaughtered its entire fort and took everything from it? It's bound to come looking for revenge!"

"Guys..."

"There are children in there!" 

"You're a moron." 

"And you're letting your emotions get in the way of the mission."

"We can't kill children."

"Stop it, guys."

"Not once has that pigman attacked us since we've arrived! What gripe do we have with them? They're just protecting what they have left!"

A sigh.

"Okay, what do you suggest then?"

"I'll take all of them in myself if that's what it takes to make it up to them."

"And if the king finds out?"

"I'm a retired man the moment I step out of the portal."

* * *

Even at a young age, Technoblade knew what the strange creatures in armor had done the moment the explosion went off. There was no way for them to have even reached the lower levels of the fort without having gone through all the guards that constantly risked their lives for their bounty and children.

Himself included; he was a child as well after all.

The piglins had sacrificed their lives.

A proud way to die.

At the young age of twenty human years (this was according to Will and Tommy, so Techno took it with a grain of salt), an insignificant number in comparison to the longevity of a piglin's average lifetime considering Techno was only around ten by Piglin standards, Technoblade knew to die in battle was the only acceptable way to go. Will and Tommy were not a fan of this belief, from what Techno could tell considering how forlorn their expressions would become as they spoke with words he could pick up parts of. They were teaching him, though; the alphabet, letters, words, pronunciations. It fascinated Technoblade how much their language contrasted from the throaty grunts that make up piglin communication.

Technoblade remembers the first time he met Wilbur and Tommy. Younglings stumbling through the nether, armorless, weaponless, and one bread between the duo to share, they were lost and scared. The piglin guards took them in as prisoners because even though they were clearly children, they were still perceived as threats. Despite all that, the two human young grew on the piglins, Tommy and Wilbur earned their keep. They became equals. But Techno knew the stories, he knew the legends. All piglins were long well aware of the legends of creatures that arrived in portals and their indiscriminate killing. It's not really a legend if it's true though, is it? Not when Techno is protecting the very creatures (humans, he has to remind himself) that have entered his home and slaughtered his people

Technoblade couldn't find himself able to blame these strangers when piglins were also a "shoot first, ask questions after" type of group. Often making it into a sport. He wonders why he is still alive though; why they entered with hackles raised only to step away in a huddle, shouting at each other in the language Techno only hopes to learn.

The first rule is to never leave survivors, after all. 

Techno shoots a reassuring glance at the two behind him (his friends, he reminds himself) who held each other fearfully.

When the strangers return, Technoblade returns a defiant and wary gaze towards them, fists clenched and steady. 

The second rule is to fight no matter the cost.

But Techno was a strategist, you see, and he knew that to fight would mean death for all three of them. So he would patiently wait for the opposing side to make the first move.

A man in a striped hat dyed with colors that Techno had never seen before crouches in front of the piglin and his companions and says, "Hi, my name is Phil."

**Author's Note:**

> this is a oneshot, i do not plan on adding on to this.
> 
> thank you for reading!


End file.
